The Sun. — London, England, 1810-12-28 00:00:00

the conduct of those.with wl un n the motion it would indeed be a .task to which his 1 :01ble . pnw+ers most P pr, , ve unequal. Wholly at a should he be to otter a word, in exculpation of ` - eren, who, 'it was now proved, had come down to 'irliament, and used.such lAnguage as to, deceive their Lordships, and induce them for a time to desert their 'tity,and turn their backs on ;heir Sovereign and.their r•ohntry. 1-1-wever be might respect the Noble Lord. lio had charatierised this protraction on the vnt of ..!inisters as meritorioui, it was impossible for him in present state of Europe ai'd the world s 9 to con :1` icier it. It lead been said, ,that to Great Britain :lour, the world in general, and that continental rr in particular, which bad beep, so long 'resisting e ambition of Fume, looked tor' protection. It was true, what could be u n on .eniabie than at ti-e delay of a week, or even or a day, in the es elislnnetit of a reetilir governtueut in this coun m ght'. : be productive- . ---lie would say, of the .'a 'wine!! couhl be intii tcd on .the h ieein rave.. If, therefore, he stipporteti the motion 1. .>vrore the ;House, he did it with a deep sense'of the 1' et invnality oft hose arrogant melt, t)y-As how (for the ,irst _time since the days of Cioniwell) it had been ri ,:tA that the iopt authority could.,be exelcistd by :toy one bill the MOnarch, without an Aet.Of teens for that purpose. .13efere, however, he exoa tiated at any greattr hongth on this pact of the sob ' jecl, he wished to state to their Lordships the ground , on which, notwithstauding seducieg.and pers a ,loe eloeutece of this NOblo F icods near him,he still Adhered to tit,. opinion which having long since coo -1 ecived, he had frequently recommended in silence and in solitude, and in VL hieh, meditation upon sobject set ved in confirm him the more stronglyo-r This opinion was, that under all the circumstances of the case, a prce2eedhig by Bill by far- prefer , able to a prect-ectingby Ad‘tress. The question be fore their Lordstrips at present was very nanow.—. It had not the - slightest• reference to - the question whether the Royal Power 'shbuld be gratittqj entire; or; only in part to the Regent, but was confined soliely to al,: consideration of the . mode by which that power should be: granted at all. It had been argued in favour of the proceeding by Address, that it Avpuft.l be a' less r rotratied triode of obtaining the objea than a proceeding by Bi.l. Even were this, argnMent well founded; it would scarcely- alter his opinion in favour of the latter mode of p rocee di ng; but it WAS not so. F.;r eight weeks, orrunfounded :Negation=, their Lprds;:hrs bad been induced to oe lay any proceeding. It ~t the" . .cornmencement of tlrat period, they had applied themselves to the dis charge of their duty by way of Bill, instead of the first step being now to be taken, they would have bad an - existing Government, capable of fulfilling all the royal functions, foreign and domestic,. If even at the present moment, their' Lordships would apply themselves like men who were determined to do their duty, 'it would be in their power to effect the-ob ject desired by war of Bill, es speedily as, by way of Address, because the Address suggest e d by hi s Noble Friend contained within it a proposition which must itself ibecome i the .subject. of a subse quent Bill. His Noble Friend who .had spoken last had must accurately disided . the question into two par•s—its relation to the analogies of the ponsiitu- tibp and its ' probable efEcielicy. i., With n spece ; to the first of these divisions he would riot fatigue their Lordshies', with a long eziumeration of prect•- • dents which -had. been. stated over and over again t wenty-two years" ago —which had b een .again. stated that night, and -which were familiar to He shbuld corifine'hithself to notice one case men tioned by his Noble Friend who moved the Amend-. • roent,and which seemed to him fo deserve consider : Lion. -Me could not.deny to his. Noble :Friend, that ifs;llre two eases iu the reign of Henry V,I, the powcer of Regent was concerted -on a pe t son substantively by the authority' of Pa - rhament, and without Ate royal tonsent, btu that in_both those cases a Commissioner was - appohtted by the King, to at it) Parliament for . lint]. The country was now placed in a situatiOnin which the pertehnal consent of the Monarch could not he ol:eained, and in which the two' Houses of Parliament Must eroceed,Wil-, Out it. The . Minister of the present day might be considered in the same light as:the Comtnissioner in the reign oilieniy VI. He iigred in the words expressed by Lord Camden, that during,the present calamity " the fuoctions of the Executive Government were totally su;pended;': and he was prepared to maintain that the Noble Lord opposte, and his colleaguss.-had been gUiliy of a gros4 userpa tion of the-royal authority; of a flagrant violation of the principles of ihe Constitution, and of an outrage, ous insult on the rights-and privileges of their.teilow ,subjects, by issuing, in the King's name, orders Which they could not have received' from the King's hand. Fell) , adMitting that there were elfliculties in both the modes of proceeding recom mended, lie asked whether a greater number of those dtffic,ulties would be avoided by proceeding by Bill than , by proceeding 'by 'Address the one case the two Houses to Parlhonent would take upon themselves to give the Royal Assent to a measure; in the other ca set hey Woeldeinpo wer "any individual' to give the lLyal assent "to a measure.— lie was persuaded that there Was not titan in the Lonntry wito would more 'wish to avoid the undue rNeiche of authority than his Royal Highness the Prince•tif 'Wales; arid he did rt,t conceive thiA it - would be just in the 'ttiro Elothes to set up his Royal Flightless as a phantom of unreal' power.'' In bOth-the mocte•P , of proceeding snggcsted" the difficulties were equally great, and he should . he sorry- to conceal this , fac.a. It had been said, that 'in 1688, the con vention of the Stales of the .I.ltalin - had addressed the Prince of Orange , to aßSunte the Regal PoWer, before they declared the Thione vacant. Nov it there was une hi,torical fg.,l' better established . in' hi, memory than another, it vas, that in that stance the convention did not address the Wince ' of Oran' e, 'to asstnne file, Regal Power, until they had dcClared the. Throne vacant. 'lt wag true' they dia.address the Prince of Orange—not to assume the Regency—but only " to . take into his /Janda the :ad ministration - 6f affairs, civil and military, and the disposal of the.pubiic revenue, until a further appli ,:ation should be made unto Thus he etas anlnntied to no particivation of legislative authority, mi d w a s t rot cteitlCA •by the 'ConvcrLion a power ' co-orniate wi:l4 ti:cir - own. It was long after tuts circumstance discoss:d whether the Ptince of 0.; ;.; riiroc. , l_ y P I CI:, RC 2i4C' SUN.c,4I /I , IS, Ni,. BOW-ItTeCti and Pt - b 1 I"i„Strlir,l4ls wtere eldwertise►nents, Orders this Vas too alelieatesa trost to vest.in. the Prince of Wales, they assumed it themselves without law— without authority, and without the Warrant of Par liament. In one case, it was reported that their condu& had been injurious to the health of the Royal sufferer. Of that h 6 knew nothing. But in more cases it was known that their conduct had been in direct opposition to the wishes of the'Royal Family. In what country did their Lordships live ? who were the men on the benCh opposite ? Ki therto he had 'considered them as weak and cient Ministers; now they appeared the Sovereigns of the country-, usurping that authority which they declared ought not to be entrusted even to the son of the King. If application were made to, the - Court of Chancery on behalf s of an individual af flicted -as his Majesty was, the care of that- indivi dual was vested, under the King's authority, in the hands of - his nearest and most affectionate relation. In such a case, the King was the gum - alien of his subjects. In the present instance, the subjects ought to become the guardians of their Monarch. Surely his Majesty was intitled to a participation in the benefits of .his people, and until a provision had been made for the purpose by the States of the , Realm, the King' ought, in Common justice, in common feeling, and in common deer-nee, to have been committed to the care-of his afflicted . There were other 'closes of usurpation on the pelt cf. Ministers, which serious as they were, would per haps appear light, when-compared with that which he had just mentioned. Tiesy had assumed, the command of the King's armies. They had issued orders to send troops abroad. Form rig this was a part of the ROyal Prerogative thought too deli cate to be touehed even by Parliament ; but now it was assumed by persons inflated with an idea.of authority, warranted by 'no law. Not only had they trenched on the prerogatives of the Crown, but they had invaded the most sacred privilege's of Par. liainent itself. If there was one point of Parlianien tasy privilege more sacred than another, it' as the privilege of taxation. Wete the King incomplete nremal and bodily health; he would have no au thority to levy taxes, w hich could be imposed by Parliament elope. •Ministera hid, bower, er, ven tured without comMunivation to Parliainent, to eater into a treaty with tho great body of distil lers respecting the duties .on distilleries. Thsy might perhaps say, that-they ooly engaged to pro- Vse these regulations to Parliament ; brit th MCI was, that,, 011 the strength of that asecoms niendation many indiaideals had embarked : : their whole formnes. Parliament would therefore be placed in the situation, 'either of exercising eo dia cussion on the subject, or if they disaproved of the proposed regolations, -of involving •in rtin a }erect and opuleet class of the people. 'But, in addit on 'to all th .se r iolations of the Coeititu to, woat would their Lordships sly, w hen they were- told - that at' the very moment when .Mini sters applied to the, two House of Patlia . eient, tor authority- to puothe Great Seal to an instrument, they Were deliberating on the propriety of puiting the Privy Seal to . anot her instrumetit s an instrument which would give them the d.sposal of a million hd a halt of the King's revenue ? if such. an act‘shoold be done, those who did it must abide ()I-the eon= sequences ; bit should it net be felleaved by the vengeance of insulied authority, there would be art end to she independence of They would be treated with the contempt which their forbearance would merit, and would justly excite universal indignation. The Lotto CHANCELLOR remindei the Committee of the line of conduce 'pursued in 1784 and 89, and contended that they were the Perliameete'having . been so prior to his Majesty'S proreguiog them so the east of November ; they met at that ?eriod, and no subsequent ad had dissolved them. A. part of the Lords and Commons were oppo-ed w the other ; the one being for investing a Regent with Regal Authority, by Bill, the other giving it by Address. • The NDble and Learned Lord then took a compre hensive view of the proceedings in 1788, and 1789, which 'be considered as having established a .prece dent necessary and proper to be followed in the pre-. sent instance. It was necessary that their proceedings, should be regarded as binding by the Judges in West= minster Hail. Tliis 'effect would be pioduced by their investing the Regent with the royal authority by Bill; as it would be regarded as. en act of legis lat'on, and they (the Judges) could see DO defe& in the King's political capaciiy. The princifle on which the House proteeded then was, the ne cessity of the case. Parliament had slated on the same principle during the infancy of Henry'Vf. and the infirmity of Ht VIII; At present they had not'w place an Mdividual on a vacant throne : they had !o appoint some one to exercise the regal power in the Dime and on behalf of the reigning IVlOnarch, or at least to exercise so 1210C - '.of the regal authority as they could with p oprietv lodge in the hands of any such person. There wa, a wide difference between\ the present situation of things, and that in which they stood at the time of- the Revolu tion. He wished those who were fur an Address, to remember, that at that peaiod we had neither King nor a Great Seal. A Great Seal wss in itself of no importance, and when the Throne was de clared vacant, it might as well have been at the bottom of the Thames as any where else. As to what. had been said, that any silversmith might furnish a Great Seal, he should reenark, that no- silversmith could give authority to the Great Seal ; no •Chancellor could give authority to a Great Seal, as it derived all its importance from the King. He then proceeded to speak of the man ner'in which the Royal assent had b en given, and detailed the circumatances of the reversal of the Act of Attainder passed agaatst the Duke of Norfolk in the feign of Henry Vllf. It was the' duty of the States of the Realm 'to supply the defeet in the Executive, as no other bpdy had that power. The , preceilent of 1788,and 1789,was a proceeding which carried with 'it the whole foree.of Parliament, and ought therefore to be adopted. It , was of great consequence that the Cow ta at Westminster should ecknowledge their proceeliega, which they must- do in that case„ and, therefore, the proposition was at once justified by policy and by law. The Noble arid ;.earned Lord 'then repliel to the observations that had been ra n e e on his condo :t. The,expressioni he had Made use of on a firmer inseting, with respect to the probability of his Majesty's recovery, vierenot stronger dm he lished by WU/ IAM tIitIVIIGFR SC South Nit,:tun street, Gr,..evel.:ti, i.;u . c QT the Pcper, Lettr; (o tt•e Edito k f,'r.",f t•p2ift 1, twist .(dress:(. ~ was justi fi ed in malltig. They Were even bel o w what would have b.en warranted by the examination of the Physicians, which he then held in his hand. He. felt fully justified in having acted as he had done, and under such circumstances, nothing on earth should have made him act otherwise. He had been actt,iated by a sincere desire to nertorm his duty, to hich he had discharged to the best of his power. He was confident there was co man in the nation who did not, love 11. e King, and -who would not • fead . ly pardon, any errors on ,the side of attach- mem to so good a Monarch. Ministersh id been se- verely reproached for their condut:t; they had been told that they made themselves Kings, and/that tiler. .. vcre audatious and arrogant. men; but aaing for tae .1 pohlic goal, they were fearleSs of the consequences. • Wh it they had done, it had be - C(1 said, was done merely, with, a view of preserving their own power. This; he need scarce s.ly, was Oot OW fiiti, and God help the man wh,, had an appetite for such a situa tion. Fur his Own .part, he knew riot how be could legally get out of his othCe till the King.commanded him to resign the Great Seal, or till a ile.,y-ria w a s in vested with/ aui hinny' to relie‘e him of the charge. Lord E itSK. INE defied their Lordsilip,•• to proJuee one precedent, other that; that-- I ;88 hud 89, that IA °old justify them' in adOpt tog the proposnion of Ministty. , , . ,'..,, Lord LAUDERDkI,A_' followed on the sarn , .: side, and coru'piaii - n.ig that Ministers assumed too mucti authority, observed, that if he had a living in his gift, he might dispose of it to u Clergyman, but had no ri g ht to t t,..), into the pulpit hituselt. LOLd REDESDALE' said, their Lordships hart come to a resolution, 11)4,4 was their duty to mnuedy the de .fret in the -eNecutive power. Flow was that deficiency -to be supplied by them but by an ad of the le,iisla lion ? Tile two Houses could out legtsiate by an Ad dress; it was therefore necessary toprot.ect byßill. An Acktre,s might b prsterabte, it a right on the part of - the person io b,ituade Regent wyfe,acknowkdged i but ii." the 4bsence of welt right, as they could not give pOwer, by an „Arldress, it as eNp dint to pro ceed by .1:10f. The N.ible Lord ta, n detailed the events of the Revolution,- and the procee:fings of the two Houses-of Pat hainent on 111 if OCCLISiOn..i.-. Tlliiie, he contend,,d, Ithroished no precedent fur a case, where•there was a King ~n the throne, and where. there was a Pa Ihi 'Lnetot legally assembled. In the pesent state at things, they wa . "... justified in de tiTrmining holithe Royal Assent shod.id be given by the necessity of the cise - ; and as to what had been said 'of their usurping the royal authority, in acting as proposed, he maintain'z N i that the usur,:a. ion would I be precisely the same if they proceeded by Address. 1 Loid HoLna No supported the amendment, and I said, that if a Noble Friend (Lord Grey) were pre sent, he would do the sane, but that it at were lie-, gatived he wo`ald enter his protest . on the Journals. The Earl of LIVERPCiO4, in answer, said that - it ~ was intended the Report should 'be taken into con sideration at the usual. hour , (five o'clock this day). He also observed, in answer to a ; question (loin atio ,, t her Noble Loid, that it was his intention to propose that the House,should sit oil Saiurday, for the pun. po,eot holdiiig a 'Conference:With the commons. A-division took place on ti.e arnendineaat, when the . numbers were-- Non.coments - . , - . ' lOU i . COiltelltS .. - ' , . 74 Majority against the Amendment —26 The original question was then put and carried, and the House adjourned at Three o'Clock this morning. . ' N In The 'Doi n'hc Dor Cra Earl insi ne% till 25.- bezi deu of On or, 1 L U ' D 0 N, FRIDAY, DECEMBER " Windsor Castle, Dec. 28, Olio. - " His IVIA3E,Ty has been rather better through the _last twenty-four hours. The Z.oEon packet has arrived at Plymouth frone Cadiz. She has brought Letters and Papers to the 12th. The account of the defeat of General BLASE, by SrmAsTrast is, we are sorry to say, Colltinned. SEaASTSASt has since joined tine army before Cticliz with-eight or nine thousand men. Asthe French gon-boats have lately_beeome rather troublesome, an attack was made upon a division of them siationed at St. Mary's, by some British (Ina Spanish bbats, pr►ncipally the former : the Freilicli were driven from their station, and three of their gun-boats destroyed. A report was 'circulated at Cadiz, :Wm the Toulon fleet had made its escape, and that it_ was destined for that place ; in conse- . _ quence of which Adrniriti KEATS thought it ex. went lo retain some 6f the larger line of battle ships at Cadiz, which it bad been before in con templation to send home. An At Colt Mail artived this morning. The only news of any importance which it brings is, an ac count of the seizure and confiwation of 17 ships, laden with Colonial produce ; which pnt into Memel in distress. It is added, that 180 'other ve s sels NVO'd lo,t in a tempest. A peace has been concluded between Russia and' Persia. . . Last night a long and very interesting Debate took • place in the House of Lords, upon the Resoluttoi;s agreed to by the Commons, and tianStnitted to tii,:ir LArdships. Upon a division, there were for ti,e ' Resolutions 101), and 'ogainst them 74. The Morn' ing Cl4ronicle • has discovered in this division, sive. know. not . wLy, sonie cruse,of , triumpli. .“ For the first ti•re,.' sa)s the Clironicle,..•‘lin the history of this Ca,intry, st.venty-tour I s ::ers voted against the personS holdint4.otlice." Wee - ir(wist request the'AtiP . thor of _the above assertion to look back to that part of the history of ibis Country which treats of Mr. Fox's farnons. India Bill, , arA Le trill find that on __ :i. one oecgsiOA doling t hi- .d6cliss'on: vii that Bill 4' 1 4 the 'HJu r e of Lordi, eighty l vevon l'eura—aild on an" R.: : : other, nihety-jive Peers, v9ted against the peasoo 4 'ft holding.ottice It is tathrlr A singular coincidence , ' that on tit..l t;rt at debate in. , fie House of Lords cP the it,: t i„trioy queitiop ,40 i 789 , the (Lai ( Aity iii f: 4-. ' Vi , til Or t Ilt,Nlilll4lCT* eras ptecsely the same as it 1.0 5 la't night, viz tNk clitY - s!X. Atld upon that occasion only'llinety-thtei.".l ) ,, is vote 4 with .A.:.tininisiration• b!tle Abo Shal lier vive wisi lion (sae Bat 4 You Vies I'•'E pang F( pin 41 ° Orange 7 should be called to the Crown, w hether he.shpuld be made Regent, - or whether any other mode of Government should be adopted to meet ,the existing exigency. Why -did not the Con vention proceed to use the - Great Seal ? In the first, place that it would have been impossible; in the second place, that if possible, it would. have been absurd. It was impossible, because the throne was vacant by the l'orfeiture of James Who had disposed of the Great Seal where it could not be found. ft would have been absurd to have used the Great Seal of 'James 11. 'for the purpose ,01 declaring that that. Prince ,had forfeited the Crown. - But (lid similar difficulties exist at pre sent Would it be as absurd to use the Great Seal of the reigning Sovereign to provide a remedy for the suspension of. the Executive Government, which his malady had occasioned ? By no means, the two duties were diametrically oppoiite. In the one • case, it was the duty of the two Houses instantly to • declare that the Throne was vacant, 3nd instantly to proceed to fill it. In the present. case, what was their duty This brought him to what he conceived . to be the great Constitntional Law of the country, and that was the distinCtion to be always obsersed be tween the natural acid t he political Capacity of the Mo _parch. Th -re was no one part Of the administrationof the law which did not rest on the political and not on th per •onal capacity of the Mialarch. For in stant: ~ to writs summoning parties to the Court ot Kit g's Be ch,.the parties were summoned to appear. "be•le th • King." Clearly before the King in , his' political capac y, and consequently those writs con tinued to be effeetive, hotvviihseanding the personal incapacity of the Monarch. So it was also in case to be tried at the Bar of that House, ccbefore th e King itf Parliament." In faCt, in every de partment of the administration ofjustice the sante principle existed. The King, in his po litical capacity, was considered to possess the 'power of übiquity—a power which of course ceidd not be ascribed to him in his personal capacity. The King, in his - political capacity, was said to .be per fect. , The Constitution declared that he could do Ito wrong. Bat much as the Monarch must be rever enced by all his subjects, it was evident that a distinc tion was here made between his natural and political capacity. This distinction aservaded the while of the Constitution. It wn a, necessary'consequetace, that although his malady deprived his .Majesty of per sonal capacity, vet that in his political capacity he still reigned as King of the Couniry. Let no man, however, think that from that analogy any : excuse could be derived for those betrayers of the King's trust, who, during the deprivation of his Majesty's persona) capacity, had assumed the functions of the Executive Government, because, for the due exer cise of those functions, the integrity of the .King's. personal capacity was indispensable. It !lot:owes! that no Legislaiive Act could be done except under the name of that Monarch who, in his political. ca pacify, st , ll governed the k'ngdom. Power could not be conferred on his son but by an Aci of Parliament passing under the name of the reigning Sovereign. Were even a Rev •nue Officer eppoint, d by a per sou pretess ng to exereisetae Royal Authority with out an Act os Parliament; that appointment would be, rendered null and ►old: In illustration of h's chietrine on this subieet,• he would mention an :ereedote that took place at the Revolution. The Ceti% ention met on the 22d of January ; - on the 30th the Commons appointed -a Clergymatr to preach before them. On the 31st they appointo day of thanksgiving for their delivery from Po pery ; selected ,another Clergyman, the celebrated Dr. Burnett,_ to preach- before them on that occa sion.. Before the days on which these- Clergymen preached, the Throne had been. declared vacant by the Convention ; but -both these Clergymen, in their prefatory prayers, prayed for King James because by law he ,had not yet been declared to have forfeited the Crown. The matter was - sub= sequentiy, taken up in the House of Commons, dud the conduct of the okra Clergymen was suc cessfully defendel on that principle. It was the principle on which, he argued, namely, that the King was alone the. King, and that any power to exercise the Royal Authority could be derived only -from the Great Seal. It was perfeCtly true that the Att now proposed 'to be done, must be eifealed by what was termed a legal fiction. But let not their Lordships be deterred by this- name. He could strew in all limited Monarchies that a legal fiction was oc casioaally found . indispensable. Were an arbitrary: Monarchy created, legal fittions would unquestion ably-be no more, but with them - would expire the most valnable rights of the subject. That the power • of 'the Regent must be conferred on him by a legis- - lative measure having the Royal assent of all parties agreed. An address could not make a Regent. He , must be made by bill; and surely the more direCt was the more eligible mode of doing so. Reverting to the conduct of Ministers, be repeated that in voting for the resolution, he begged to be under stood as condemning in the strongest manner the criminal condua of -those meti wile had usurped the Royal Authority, and violated the Constitution. It had been put to him, whether, were he a Minister, and an unforeseen emergency arose, he would not, even without : due. authority, recall or reinforce a British army ?. He: had no hesitation in replying, that were he so situated, and Parliament were not ,assembled, lie st ould not scruple to 'commit .an illegal ad to insure the safety of a British army. But, if the necessity should occur a single day after the assembling of Parliament, he should then conceive it to . be his duty to submit ':the case to Parliament, 'and to be their right to take - such steps as in their wisdom might seem requisite. But what the men opposite had dared to do, was a violation offthat. principle—it was an act of mani-i fest treason against the',King, and against the Parlia .rnent. He • was astonished with what face those men could appear before their Lordships, with their two-handed proposition., First, 'declaring, that in the two Houses of Parliament rested the execution of the King'a . authority, and in the same breath sayintz, that it rested' with themselves ! These Merl lead had the audacity to usurp not only the Kin,g's authority,, but the whole authority, exe':utive and legislative, of the State. He was greatly deceived if in the first elace they had not arrogated (to the ie rieite' distress and • affliction of the Royal Family) the:whole czee 'and custody of his Majesiv pers At the niom:eit •that they told their Lordships that T the 1 T Svc the read . the 1 will Li tact /Sale and Ri a Pr riei Cou i'liz‘ COlfll draw tritic -znca; C ipi !kr bets Ti, (4r th; 4